boss

boss¹

/baws, bos/, n.

1. a person who employs or superintends workers; manager.

2. a politician who controls the party organization, as in a particular district.

3. a person who makes decisions, exercises authority, dominates, etc.: My grandfather was the boss in his family.

v.t.

4. to be master of or over; manage; direct; control.

5. to order about, esp. in an arrogant manner.

v.i.

6. to be boss.

7. to be too domineering and authoritative.

adj.

8. chief; master.

9. Slang. first-rate.

[1640-50, Amer.; < D baas master, foreman]

Syn. 1. supervisor, head, foreman, chief, superintendent, administrator, overseer.

boss²

/baws, bos/, n.

1. Bot., Zool. a protuberance or roundish excrescence on the body or on some organ of an animal or plant.

2. Geol. a knoblike mass of rock, esp. an outcrop of igneous or metamorphic rock.

3. an ornamental protuberance of metal, ivory, etc.; stud.

4. Archit.

a. an ornamental, knoblike projection, as a carved keystone at the intersection of ogives.

b. a stone roughly formed and set in place for later carving.

5. Bookbinding. one of several pieces of brass or other metal inset into the cover of a book to protect the corners or edges or for decoration.

6. Mach. a small projection on a casting or forging.

7. Naut. a projecting part in a ship's hull, or in one frame of a hull, fitting around a propeller shaft.

v.t.

8. to ornament with bosses.

9. to emboss.

10. (in plumbing) to hammer (sheet metal, as lead) to conform to an irregular surface.

[1250-1300; ME boce < AF: lump, growth, boil; OF < VL *bottia, of uncert. orig.]

boss³

/bos, baws/, n.

a familiar name for a calf or cow.

[1790-1800, Amer.; cf. dial. (SW England) borse, boss, buss six-month-old calf]

boss⁴

/bos/, adj. Scot.

hollow; empty.

[1505-15; of obscure orig.]

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▪ architecture

      in medieval architecture, keystone used in vaulting to provide a junction for intersecting ribs and to cover the actual complex of mitred joints. In medieval England it was highly developed, but in France it was less developed because of the greater height of French naves. By the 13th century, decorative bosses with naturalistic carving were widely used in England (e.g., in the nave at Westminster Abbey, London, and at Ely Cathedral). In the 14th century, bosses comprising a series of narrative scenes appeared, and in the 15th century, fan vaulting was developed with long, pendantlike bosses.

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